The present invention relates to the discovery of a new and distinct cultivar of southern highbush blueberry plant botanically known as a Vaccinium corymbosum and herein referred to as ‘TH-917’, as herein described and illustrated.
The new blueberry plant variety ‘TH-917’ was selected in Griffin, Ga., in 2005. The new variety ‘TH-917’ ripens around mid-May in southern Georgia to late May in middle Georgia. The fruit of the new variety ‘TH-917’ are firm with good flavor and favorable scar. The new variety ‘TH-917’ has good yield and is vigorous with an estimated chilling requirement of about 500-550 hours at or below 7° C.
Pedigree and history: ‘TH-917’ was selected in 2005 at the Georgia Experiment Station in Griffin, Ga., originating from a cross of ‘TH-653’×‘Millennia’ made by Dr. D. Scott NeSmith in 2002. The maternal parent (‘TH-653’) is a non-patented UGA breeding line derived from a cross of ‘Legacy’×‘TH-454’. Both ‘Legacy’ and ‘TH-454’ are not patented. The paternal parent, ‘Millennia’, is the subject of U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,816. The selection ‘TH-917’ has been tested in asexually propagated (by vegetative cuttings) plantings at UGA Blueberry Research Farms in Alapaha and Griffin, Ga. since 2007.